The father of late Formula 1 driver Jules Bianchi has revealed a touching tribute made by Charles Leclerc after his Monaco Grand Prix win.
Born and raised in the Principality, Leclerc finally won his home race for the first time. Sadly, neither his father nor his godfather were able to witness the 26-year-old be victorious on the streets of Monte Carlo.
Leclerc's father, Hervé, died in 2017 after a long illness and before his son had signed his first F1 deal. That was two years after his godfather Bianchi died as a result of injuries sustained in a crash at the Japanese Grand Prix nine months earlier.
Bianchi's father Philippe post on social media days after Leclerc's Monaco win to thank the Monegasque for the gift of a special tribute helmet to his son. The Ferrari driver wore the helmet in April as he raced at Suzuka, the site of the accident which led to Bianchi's death.
Posing for a photo with the helmet, Philippe wrote: "Thanks Charles for this present and your tribute forever for Jules and your support for the Bianchi family. Congratulations for your fantastic victory in Monaco. I am thinking about Hervé and Jules you are so proud about you and to the fantastic man and driver that you are."
The deaths of two people so important in his life have had a profound effect on Leclerc. After his Monaco win, he appeared on the On Purpose podcast and told host Jay Shetty about how he has been able to move forward in his career while carrying the weight of his losses.
Leclerc said: "It's made me grow faster. I lost my father in 2017 so I was obviously very young and, at this time of your career or your life, you need that person who helps you grow as a man and also as a driver. He was basically my best mentor, he was a driver himself back in the day, so obviously he was helping me with all his experience.
"To lose him at that age made me an adult much, much faster... Before that, I was just a kid. He would bring me to the races, I would do what I loved the most which was driving, and then flights, organisation, planning, that was all on my father and he was doing that perfectly. He sacrificed a lot for me to get here.
"These are very, very difficult moments because then you are racing on this exact same track, you are going through the exact same corner where a person that you were close with lost his life.
"A part of me was like, 'I cannot get on with it like nothing happened.' You need to focus fully on driving; otherwise, you are never able to extract the maximum out of the car."
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